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Muppet Labs
Muppet Labs, "where the future is being made today," is the site of scientific enquiry, technological breakthroughs, and sundry explosions on The Muppet Show. Headed by Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, the lab premiered in episode 108 and lasted all five seasons. During the first season, Bunsen worked alone. Beginning in season two, the good doctor acquired an assistant/guinea pig, the hapless Beaker. In each installment, Dr. Honeydew would present his latest scientific breakthrough, inventions which ranged from the gorilla detector to the Automatic Wastebasket. In the great Muppet tradition, the majority of these devices backfired, proving hazardous to all and sundry. Sometimes the inventions would cause chaos even when they worked properly, such as in episode 219, when Bunsen’s teleportation device beams random people and objects all over the theater at random intervals, driving Kermit mad. In later episodes, such as episode 506, Muppet Labs and its inventions played a key role in the backstage plot when it came to restoring Brooke Shields to her normal size. For the first two seasons, the lab set consisted of computers and a desk against a plain blue background. In the third season, the set was changed to more closely resemble an office, with a wall clock (which was square in the third season, and circular after that) and a city backdrop. Most but not all of these later sketches began with a shot of the clock as the camera zoomed back to reveal the rest of the set. Following the end of The Muppet Show, Muppet Labs still remained the premiere research laboratory of the Muppet universe, with new discoveries occurring on The Jim Henson Hour and Muppets Tonight. The lab also plays a key role in Muppet*Vision 3D, as the labs founded Muppet*Vision technology. In Muppets from Space, Muppet Labs is headquartered in the basement of the Muppet Boarding House. '' In merchandise, ''The Comic Muppet Book featured a "Muppet Labs" sketch, in which Bunsen tests out his Laugh-O-Matic, which makes the wearer laugh. The Muppets: On with the Show! featured a Muppet Labs level. The first Muppet playset released by Palisades Toys was a Muppet Labs Playset. The preview issue of The Muppet Show Comic Book featured a Muppet Labs sketch. In 2007, Disney's "Living Characters Initiative" project launched the Muppet Mobile Lab, a theme park exhibit touring Disney California Adventure and other Disney parks. Sketches The Muppet Show Comic Book * Time Machine (Comic-Con Preview Issue) :Bunsen invents a time machine, and tells Beaker to go 30 seconds into the past. Unfortunately, he keeps going back to when Bunsen tells him to go 30 seconds into the past. * Humorous Cheese (Fozzie's Story) :Bunsen invents a Humorous Cheese, milked from cows with a greater-than-average sense of humor. The cheese comes to life, but when his jokes become too much for the scientists, Bunsen has Beaker to do "Plan B", letting the cheese chase Beaker into a cage. Unfortunately for Beaker, Bunsen won't unlock it, for fear that the cheese will try to escape. * Psychic Ability Monitoring Device (Miss Piggy's Story) :Believing that everybody has a bit of psychic ability in them, Bunsen has Beaker wear a monitoring device helmet and asks a series of questions, which Beaker keeps getting right. But Beaker soon catches fire. Muppet Babies * On the 2018 Muppet Babies series, Muppet Labs appears in the episode "One Small Problem" where Baby Bunsen and Baby Beaker introduce their invention, the Enlarge-O-Ray. They use the device in an attempt to make Summer Penguin bigger, but a malfunction causes her to become tiny. After it's fixed, Beaker is made oversized until it's revealed that, outside their imaginations, the Enlarge-O-Ray is actually just a flashlight. See also __NOWYSIWYG__ Category:Muppet Show Recurring Sketches Category:Muppet Show Locations